Tuesday, March 4, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.
When he first stumbled upon the secret behind his "Guaranteed Golf System" 10 years ago, Dalton McCrary knew he had a gold mine. Only in the past month, however, has he come to realize he hit the mother lode.
McCrary, a three-year Las Vegas resident, said the response to his system has been overwhelming since he began selling a videotaped version of his lessons to a national audience.
"In the first six weeks, we have sold close to 700 tapes," McCrary said. "Right now, they're selling at a rate of over 40 a day. I've always gotten that response with my private lessons ... but it's really surprising to everybody -- we really went beyond what we anticipated."
"Dalton's Guaranteed Golf System" is being advertised in four major golf magazines -- a potential audience of 3.5 million readers -- including Golf Digest. By May, his ads also will appear in Newsweek, USA Today, the Wall Street Journal and Playboy.
McCrary offers a similar "money-back-plus" guarantee as he did with his personal lessons: If you're not hitting the golf ball straight after taking his video lesson, he will refund the price of the tape ($99) and pay you $25.
"We expected to get 10 percent (of the tapes sold) returned -- we've gotten two," McCrary said. "One guy was a 3-handicapper and he said he was not going to change and one guy said he didn't order it. It's surprising me, it's surprising the guy that's marketing me ... it's surprising everybody."
The "Guaranteed Golf System" tape only is the tip of the iceberg for the 47-year-old native Texan: He already has completed an instructional video on putting; he is looking to do other tapes addressing the short game and course strategy; an infomercial is due out in June; and he has plans to return to personalized instruction with an indoor golf facility in Las Vegas.
"I don't have a course that I'm affiliated with so I've got to have a place where I can teach," said McCrary, who had been teaching his system at the Las Vegas Golf Club. "We elected to do it indoors rather than outdoors so we could get out of the heat."
McCrary said his golf facility would include an indoor range, an area where he could manufacture the custom clubs he sells in conjunction with his video and a 70,000-square-foot "indoor country club" where golfers could play 24 hours a day on high-tech golf simulators.
McCrary is not offering personalized instruction at this time. To order his video, call 1-800-442-8750, Dept. D37.
Chip shots ...
* REBELS NO. 2: Despite a convincing 16-shot victory at the Taylor Made/Big Island Intercollegiate, the UNLV golf team is ranked second (behind Oklahoma State) in the latest Golf World poll. The Cowboys have one win and two top-three finishes in five tournaments this season and UNLV has a win and two top-three showings in four starts. Apparently what separates UNLV and OSU in the Golf World poll is the fact the Rebels have one finish in the bottom half of a tournament (13th in the 18-team Golf World Invitational last fall) while OSU has not placed in the lower half of the field in a tournament this season.
* TIGER WATCH: Tiger Woods has elected to withdraw from this week's PGA Tour stop, the Doral-Ryder Open in Miami, because of minor complications experienced by his father, Earl, following Feb. 19 heart bypass surgery. ... Woods will be the subject of a one-hour special on CBS, to be aired April 13. The program will chronicle the important personal and professional moments of Woods' life and will include interviews with a number of golf professionals including Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus.
* JUNIOR TOURNAMENT: The Southern Nevada Junior Golf Association and the Las Vegas Thunder are teaming to present the Las Vegas Thunder Junior Golf Classic March 27 at Sunrise Country Club. The field will be limited to the first 45 entries received from Southern Nevada junior golfers. Each team will consist of one local club professional, one Thunder player and three juniors. The entry fee is $30 and entry forms can be obtained through the SNJGA.
* UPCOMING EVENTS: It's a slow week for professional golf as the Senior PGA Tour and LPGA Tour are taking the week off. The PGA Tour moves to Miami for the $1.8 million Doral-Ryder Open at Doral Resort & Country Club. Greg Norman is the defending champion and will be making his first start on the PGA Tour this season. The USA cable network will televise Thursday and Friday, and CBS will handle the telecast Saturday and Sunday. ... The only other major professional tour competing this week is the PGA European Tour, which will stage the Moroccan Open Thursday through Sunday.
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